On the streets I ran

Last night I went with Jamie to see the people who run Sumac - the place where I'm putting a couple of gigs on in April and May. We'd been invited to sit in on their Entertainments Commitee meeting, and so we arrived on time at a house in the middle of Forest Fields, and sat there all polite and nodding and desperate to really leave and go back to the pub, which we managed to in under half an hour without looking rude. I was proud of us both.

I lived in Forest Fields last about 12 years ago, and it changes little. The roads are narrow and packed with three- or four-storey houses, most of which have been chopped up into bedsits by landlords interested only in what profit they can gain per square foot, without little care for a community they'll probably never live in. But I like Forest Fields, because, despite the bullshit scare stories, people who live there actually talk to each other.

Jamie went into the offy after the meeting to get some lagers to take back to Jaynie's house, and I stood outside for fag. Jamie only lives about a 15 minute walk away, but he came out of the shop saying something like, "Forest Fields - it's a different world. People are actually interested in how you are when you buy something in a shop." And that's something you miss when you live in the rarified air of bloody West Bridgford, with its immaculate Oxfam shops, expensive delis, Marks and Spencer ready meals, and fucking packed out coffee shops.

Don't get me wrong - Forest Fields is a run-down shithole for the most part, and I wouldn't want anyone to accept that's all they're worth in life but, despite that, I'd rather buy a packet of fags in Londis in Forest Fields than I would in Frappalano Newsagents in Bridgford. Where, I might add, despite its reputation as the liberal capital of Nottingham, copies of the Daily Telegraph, Mail and Express fly out of the shops quicker than a loaf of sundried tomato bread.

Frappalano Newsagents doesn't actually exist, obviously...

Anyway, I had a jolly old time last night, roaming around streets with Jamie that I hadn't roamed around since I was young and thin and attractive to the opposite sex. And then we went to Jaynie's and tried some of her home-brewed beer. There are worse ways to spend a Monday evening. And I managed to get back for the second episode of Coronation Street